Square Meal » Coffee Break: Toby's Estate

by Diana Budds Under-caffeinated Brooklynites have a new destination in Toby's Estate coffee, an Australian cafe import that opened in January. The company has been around since 1998 but for their first U.S. outpost they contacted New York firm nemaworkshop to design the space. "It was important that the cafe be a social space for the neighborhood," says nemaworkshop's Anurag Nema. Our last Coffee Break story, we focused on Coffee Bar, a cafe meant to be a stage for the craft of coffee. In a 180-degree flip, Toby's is designed to create a stage for community. "Over the last decade, cafes have been serving up more than cups of coffee to their patrons. They're meeting places, study rooms, extensions of our living rooms, a place we feel safe to harbor for a few hours while checking our email, or finishing the final scene in what will become our breakout playwright," continues Nema. With that in mind, have look at the space in our slideshow.

by Diana Budds

Under-caffeinated Brooklynites have a new destination in Toby's Estate coffee, an Australian cafe import that opened in January. The company has been around since 1998 but for their first U.S. outpost they contacted New York firm nemaworkshop to design the space. "It was important that the cafe be a social space for the neighborhood," says nemaworkshop's Anurag Nema. Our last Coffee Break story, we focused on Coffee Bar, a cafe meant to be a stage for the craft of coffee. In a 180-degree flip, Toby's is designed to create a stage for community. "Over the last decade, cafes have been serving up more than cups of coffee to their patrons. They're meeting places, study rooms, extensions of our living rooms, a place we feel safe to harbor for a few hours while checking our email, or finishing the final scene in what will become our breakout playwright," continues Nema. With that in mind, have look at the space in our slideshow.